West Penwith is roughly 16 x 12 km (10 x 8 miles) in size, bounded by sea-cliffs on three sides, and it has about 500 ancient sites, big and small.

Carn Galva from Lanyon Quoit

These include neolithic tor enclosures, cliff castles and quoits around 5,700 years old; stone circles, menhirs, cairns and moundsaround 4,000 years old; and also carns, fogous, rounds, holy wells, early Christian crosses and churches.

In the bronze age Penwith was well known as a source of tin, gold and copper. It lay at the hub of an ancient Atlantic culture stretching from Portugal to Scandinavia, with its core area lying between Brittany, Ireland and the west coast of Britain.

Penwith was also busy during the iron age and during the age of early medieval Celtic saints.

There was a system to the way Penwith's ancient sites were located and built. They were deliberately built in patterns of alignment with each other, forming a network of ancient sites knitted into an integral system across the peninsula.

What did the ancients know that we don't? The Ancient Penwith site contains evidence, maps of sites and alignments, new discoveries and thoughts on their possible significance. Forthcoming research into astronomical orientations, underground water and subtle energy patterns will, in due course, expand on this - that comes next.

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Geomancy

Geomancy concerns the locational relationships, design and subtle energy of megalithic sites, shedding light on why they were built.

Usually ignored by archaeologists, geomancy adds a new evidential dimension, offering insights into why ancient sites were built. Taken as a whole, we suggest they represent an ancient geoengineering project.

There's a map of alignments in West Penwith on this site, and discoveries arising from it are reported here too.

Penwith's megalithic past has been researched by antiquarians and archaeologists for many years. This site draws on their work and adds to it, looking at the Land's End peninsula as a whole landscape.